


Things I Almost Remember

by Haberdasher



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Memory Alteration, Memory Magic, Memory Related, POV Jonathan Sims, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22407715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: TMA fic building off the AU established in Yesterday Is Here, in which a post-season-4 Jon goes back in time to the pre-season-1 Archives to prevent the worst of the future from happening as it did in canon. (Would take place in between chapters 2 and 3 of said fic.)The day after his arrival (and an explanation thereof), Future Jon has a meaningful conversation with Sasha.
Relationships: Sasha James & Jonathan Sims
Comments: 40
Kudos: 852





	Things I Almost Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Yesterday is Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22230022) by [CirrusGrey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CirrusGrey/pseuds/CirrusGrey). 



Sasha was the first one to enter the archives, the morning after Jon explained to the archival staff why he was there, what had happened between this time and the one he was from, what the stakes were for him going back and setting things right.

That fit what he remembered of Sasha, at least. She had always been a morning person, or at least more so than any of her coworkers, and she’d made a habit of getting there bright and early to get a good start on the day’s work whenever she could afford it, usually with a freshly-bought coffee in hand.

(Jon had wondered at one point if that was really _Sasha_ he was remembering with all that, or whether Not-Sasha had cultivated that same habit instead to spend that time before the rest of the staff arrived spying on the archives, but, well, seems like that particular uncertainty was now settled.)

Sasha smiled and waved at Jon as she walked through the door, and Jon didn’t hesitate to reciprocate.

“Good morning, Jo-”

She paused, looking more closely at Jon and swapping out her greeting mid-word, though Jon was glad to see that the realization didn’t make her cheery early morning smile fade terribly much. “ _Sims_. Good morning, Sims.”

“Good morning, Sasha.”

Sasha headed towards her desk, and Jon couldn’t help but watch. It was good to see Sasha again, the _real_ Sasha, after that long stretch of time spent without her, and that uncomfortable bit where what he’d thought was her was actually an impostor in his midst-

-and weird, as well, because there was still a part of Jon’s mind that insisted it remembered what Sasha James looked like and sounded like and this wasn’t it, but Jon had long since accepted that weird had become par for the course in his life.

“Why are you looking at me funny?”

Jon blinked, Sasha’s speech disrupting his train of thought. “I’m not looking at you funny.”

“Yes you _are_. And you’re not being subtle about it either, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Sasha made a detour, heading towards Jon instead of proceeding towards her desk, until she was standing just a few feet from him and looking him dead in the eye. “What’s going on?”

“It’s just...” Jon sighed softly before continuing. “I’d forgotten what you looked like.”

“Am I really that unmemorable?”

Jon could feel the blood rushing to his face as he hastened to respond. “No, no, it’s not like that-”

Sasha laughed, and it sounded different than Jon remembered, and it sounded _right_. “No, honestly, I get it, clearly you’ve had a lot on your mind with- with saving the world and all, and it doesn’t seem like you’re great with faces to begin with-”

“That’s not it, though- I mean, you’re right that I’m not always the best with faces, but-”

“Knew it.” Sasha grinned at that, a satisfied grin, which coupled with her words suggested to Jon that she’d just had a pet theory of hers confirmed. He might not have gone out of his way to get close to his archival assistants back then--back _now_ \--but evidently they’d still managed to pick up a few things about him along the way.

“But the reason I forgot what you looked like is that... when you died-”

It would be future tense in this time period, of course, but he wasn’t going to let it happen again, so might as well keep to the tenses that fit his own personal timeline. (Time travel was confusing in a number of ways, and Jon had anticipated as much, but the linguistic hurdles involved were somewhat unexpected.)

“Something else took your place, and when it did, it changed our memories to make us think it was you. It looked different, sounded different, but as far as any of us could remember, that was how you’d always been.”

Sasha hummed thoughtfully to herself for a moment before asking, “So this other me, this thing that took my place. What did it look like?”

“Now that I can see the real you, it was... _way_ different.” Jon let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “A lot shorter, for one thing, and skinnier. No glasses, either. And its hair was all wrong, too, short and blonde, in... kind of a bob?”

Sasha’s laugh had more humor in it than Jon’s had, though that wasn’t a high bar to pass. “You thought _I_ had a blonde bob? Seriously?”

“We all did!” Jon didn’t mean to sound quite as defensive as his voice came out. “We all thought that’s what you’d always looked like! Except Melanie, I suppose, still don’t know why _she_ was the only one who could see through it-”

“Melanie?”

Oh, he had _not_ meant to drop that name that early, especially since it was still only a matter of time before Melanie King came in to give her first statement to the Institute... “Forget I said that name. Please.”

“...alright, fine.”

There was a moment of silence before Sasha spoke up again.

“I know there’s some pictures of me around this place--are those what tipped you off, then?”

Jon shook his head. “They changed, too. Everything did, except your voice on the tapes, and it hid those when it took your place. All those pictures would show is you as-” Jon let a little laughter shine through in his voice as he looked at Sasha--the real, original Sasha--and knew how off the image he was describing, the image that was still his go-to mental image of Sasha James, was in comparison. “As a skinny little thing with a blonde bob.”

Sasha didn’t hesitate in her reply this time. “That’s _bonkers_.”

“Welcome to my world.”

This time, Sasha’s grin did clearly shrink a little. In hindsight, Jon couldn’t say he blamed her. They knew by and large what his world was like, now, and it wasn’t exactly a pleasant one.

“Now, I really do have some work to get going on, and my coffee’s getting a bit cold-”

“Right, of course. Go ahead. Just... it’s good to see you, Sasha. The real you.”

“...thanks, I guess.”

Sasha took a seat at her desk, the one Jon remembered as having gone unoccupied for so long, and Jon tried his best not to stare, tried not to drink in the image of Sasha James in the flesh, tried not to dwell on the inconsistencies that he was hoping this would finally smooth over in his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, consider following me on tumblr at [haberdashing](https://haberdashing.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
